Improvement in the manufacture of leather



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AMZI H. VAN GIESON, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 40,718, dated November 24, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, AMZI H. VAN G1EsoN,of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Leather; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,

clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention consists in the attachment, in the manner described, of a grain-surface of one kind of leather to a body of another kind of leather, by which Iam enabled to combine the beauty of the finer kinds of leather with the strength and solidity of the coarser and heavier qualities, and at the same time produce a cheaper article, as well as one which shall be beautiful and durable.

It is well known that leather has for a few years past been split for various purposes, and recently improvements in splitting-machines have iendered it possible to remove a portion of the grain of the leather in a thin sheet of uniform thickness, and at the same time preserve the body of the same leather in a good state for useful application to the various purposes to which it is adapted. It is obvious that this great facility of dividing the leather must greatly reduce the expense of the various kinds of splits of leather and render some satisfactory means of increasing their utility and efficiency desirable.

There are various articles in which, while great strength is required, beauty ofsurface is also quite desirable, and it a satisfactory means can be employed for uniting the finer surface with the heavier body there is no question of its general utility and desirability. My

invention accomplishes this purpose by uniting the two parts of the leather with a cement which is sufficiently insoluble in water to prevent the separation of parts in the usage to which it would be subjected in ordinary wear. To accomplish this purpose I generally employ a substance generally known and sold by druggists-as Hiltons Cement, though I believe there are other cements which would comply with the conditions and answer the purpose, care being taken to secure only such a cement as would unite the leather firmly, be sufficiently insoluble, and yet harmless to the leather. In this manner a calf-skin'grain can be put upon a split of cowhide, and while it presents a desirable smoothness to the calfskin surface it also embodies the strength and solidity which is desirable, and at a cheaper rate than the calf-skin itself in the usual state could be furnished.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination, by the means above described, of a grain-surface of fine leather with a body of heavier texture, substantially as set forth.

A. H. VAN GIBSON. Witnesses:

CHAS. E. HoR'E, ISAAC H. HOWE. 

